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President and CEO Kevin Sayer said the company will file for Medicare coverage of the G6, while it continues to work out an issue that prevents beneficiaries from using a feature that lets data be displayed or shared on cell phones.

Once a decade, legislators try to fix healthcare in the United States. Panelists at PULSE: The Atlantic Summit on Health Care, discuss challenges to fixing healthcare and what solutions they see.

The Trump administration has finalized a new director for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI): Adam Boehler, the former CEO of Landmark Health, a home-based medical care company.

Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) monotherapy as first-line treatment in locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) met its primary endpoint of overall survival in the Phase 3 KEYNOTE-042 trial when compared with standard of care platinum-based chemotherapy.

Ronny L. Jackson, MD, would give up $1 million in retirement income to head the Department of Veterans Affairs and work in the Trump administration; mega healthcare deals endanger independent practices of primary care providers; Novartis is buying a gene therapy firm focused on spinal muscular atrophy.

A new set of 16 recommendations released by the Society of Hospital Medicine urges hospitalists, primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other clinicians to limit opioid use whenever possible for hospitalized patients with acute pain. The consensus statements, published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine, provides guidance about when to use opioids versus other pain methods.

Sancilio Pharmaceuticals announced that it has received the European Medicines Agency’s Orphan Designation for its SC411 (which it plans to market as Altemia), a proposed treatment for sickle cell disease in pediatric patients, in the European Union. The FDA granted the proposed drug a similar designation—the Rare Pediatric Disease designation—in 2017.

The PARP inhibitor had previously been approved to treat active ovarian cancer in women who received at least 2 lines of chemotherapy.

Despite growth in the market, CMS has been slow to recognize the value that telehealth can bring to clinical encounters by encouraging utilization of telehealth technology through reimbursement models. However, now CMS has taken steps to encourage practices to leverage telehealth and remote monitoring activities through changes to the Quality Payment Program.

Earlier this week, CMS tweaked an opioid policy aimed at Medicare Part D patients that had drawn criticism when it was first released in draft form. Critics said it would have sharply reduced access to opioids for those with chronic pain, people with cancer or other types of pain. Two palliative care doctors said they are waiting to see if the changes are implemented in a meaningful way for their patients.

The pivotal phase 3 ECHO-301/KEYNOTE-252 study evaluating Incyte’s epacadostat in combination with Merck’s pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma will be stopped after failing to meet its primary endpoint, according to a joint press release.

Christie’s Place, a nonprofit social service organization, puts a large focus on social determinants of health to help their clients not only keep up with their medical care, but also improve their quality of life.

This week, the top managed care news included final numbers for 2018 enrollment in Affordable Care Act plans; an increase in Medicare Advantage payments; National Public Health Week highlighted the importance of community relationships in improving health.

On Monday, CMS announced that it has finalized policies for Medicare health and drug plans for 2019 aimed to lower the cost of drugs for beneficiaries and provide additional plan choices.

Coverage of our peer-reviewed research and news reporting in the healthcare and mainstream press.

Surgeon General Jerome M. Adams, MD, issues a call for more people to carry naloxone to counteract opioid overdoses amid the ongoing national public health emergency; however, it is unclear if increased access to naloxone will combat the opioid epidemic or exacerbate overdoses.

JPMorgan CEO gives more details about the healthcare venture with Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway; a White House report on insurers comes under scrutiny; a database tracks pharmaceutical donations to patient groups.

For the first time, medical students are being evaluated on how they deliver bad news, whether it be the death of a loved one or a medical mistake.

Sanofi, 1 of 3 drug manufacturers embroiled in a lawsuit involving insulin prices, said Thursday it is offering a discount program for some patient with diabetes who are uninsured or who have high-deductible insurance plans.

Children in poverty from one Ohio county spend more time hospitalized than those from more well-off Census tracts within the same county, according to a recent study published in Health Affairs. These health disparities could be reduced by building a “culture of health” within a hospital or healthcare system using goals aligned with the surrounding community, instead of approaching disparities condition by condition, the researchers wrote.

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, calls on social media sites and internet providers to crack down on illegal online opioid sales; Ohio will require pharmacy benefit managers and insurers to inform patients of the lowest price for a drug; a court is weighing if a hospital is responsible for a discharged patient with schizophrenia who committed murder.

Researchers have been trying to find a way to screen populations at high risk of developing a precursor condition to multiple myeloma in order to intervene early and reduce disease prevalence and mortality.

Telepsychiatry models improve access, utilization, and patient satisfaction.

With food insecurity attributing to $77 billion in excess healthcare expenditures annually, support services such as meal programs have been implemented. A study in Health Affairs found that meal delivery programs reduce the use of costly healthcare services, such as emergency department (ED) visits, and help cut costs for dually eligible Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.

New research suggests that the composition of bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract may help predict which patients with cancer may benefit most from adoptive T-cell immunotherapy, including chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy.

Medicaid work requirements will ultimately harm children’s health if their parents lose health benefits, a new policy report says. The report summarizes how health insurance gains for parents translates into improved healthcare access for children.

Enrollment for 2018 in Affordable Care Act plans is only slightly below figures from 2017; a rare breed of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is spreading in hospitals; a new company will develop off-the-shelf CAR T-cell therapies that do not need to be personalized to the patient.

A study of 2 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) inhalers from the same company was published recently in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. The DYNAGITO trial showed tiotropium bromide and olodaterol, a dual bronchodilator sold under the name Stiolto Respimat, prevented exacerbations better than tiotropium bromide alone (sold as Spiriva Respimat), although not quite as much as expected.

Health policy experts laid out a series of proposals to bring down prescription drug costs, lower US healthcare spending, and protect patients in a series of 3 papers published recently in Health Affairs. The papers, supported by the Commonwealth Fund, advocate for increasing competition, applying value-based purchasing, and protecting patients from high out-of-pocket costs.

Nine in 10 people with non-group health insurance will continue buying coverage despite the repeal of the individual mandate and express worry over future availability and price of health coverage, according to a health tracking poll from Kaiser Family Foundation. The poll also found that for the uninsured, the main reason for not purchasing coverage is that it is too expensive.